How does nature work in our human-created city, suburb, and exurb/peri-urb? Indeed how is ecology - including its urban water, soil, air, plant, and animal foundations - spatially entwined with this great human enterprise? And how can we improve urban areas for both nature and people? Urban Ecology: Science of Cities explores the entire urban area: from streets, lawns, and parks to riversides, sewer systems, and industrial sites. The book presents models, patterns, and examples from hundreds of cities worldwide. Numerous illustrations enrich the presentation. Cities are analyzed, not as ecologically bad or good, but as places with concentrated rather than dispersed people. Urban ecology principles, traditionally adapted from natural-area ecology, now increasingly emerge from the distinctive features of cities. Spatial patterns and flows, linking organisms, built structures, and the physical environment highlight a treasure chest of useful principles. This pioneering interdisciplinary book opens up frontiers of insight, as a valuable source and text for undergraduates, graduates, researchers, professionals, and others with a thirst for solutions to growing urban problems.

Foreword ix

Preface xii

Acknowledgments xiv

Part I – Framework

1 Foundations 1

Urban ecology concept 2

Routes to the present 4

Urban attributes and ecological assays 11

People and their activities 16

Using urban ecology for society’s solutions 26

2 Spatial patterns and mosaics 31

Scale, human, and nature patterns 32

Urban–rural gradient as spatial model 38

Patch–corridor–matrix and other spatial models 44

Neighborhood mosaics and their linkages 49

Urban regions, metro areas, cities 58

3 Flows, movements, change 65

The nature of flows and movements 65

Flows around boundaries and mosaics 69

Change-over-time principles 73

Urbanization 76

Rates and trajectories of ecological change 83

Part II – Ecological features

4 Urban soil and chemicals 91

The essence of urban soil 91

Key natural and human processes 97

Soil texture and associated properties 101

Life in the soil 105

Urban soil chemicals 113

The urban underground 119

5 Urban air 125

Microclimate 126

Energy and radiation 129

Urban heat 133

Diverse airflows 139

Air pollutants and effects 143

6 Urban water systems 149

Urban flows in the water cycle 150

Groundwater 151

Clean water supply 158

Sewage and septic wastewater 160

Stormwater and pollutants 170

7 Urban water bodies 175

Urban wetlands and ponds 175

Constructed basins, ponds, wetlands, biofilters 179

Urban streams 182

Urban rivers 186

Flooding by river and stream 193

Urban coastal zones 197

8 Urban habitat, vegetation, plants 205

Urban vegetation and habitat 205

Urban plants 208

Urban plant biology 215

Trees and shrubs 223

Plant community structure and dynamics 230

Plants and urban habitat fragments 238

9 Urban wildlife 241

Species types 242

Vertical structures, vegetation layers, and animals 255

Spatial habitat patterns and animals 259

Wildlife movement 264

Changing urban wildlife and adaptation 268

Part III – Urban features

10 Human structures 275

Railways 276

Roads and associated features 279

Hard surfaces and cracks 287

House plots, gardens, lawns 292

Buildings 306

11 Residential, commercial, industrial areas 314

City residential areas 315

Suburban and peri-urban/exurban residential areas 321

City center 326

Commercial sites dispersed across the urban area 332

Industrial areas 336

12 Green spaces, corridors, systems 343

Urban agriculture 344

Parks 349

Diverse large greenspaces 353

Green corridors and networks 362

Integrated urban greenspace system 366

Epilogue 372

Appendix A: Positive and negative attributes of an urban region 379

Appendix B: Equations 381

References 386

Index 444

Richard T. T. Forman is the PAES Professor of Landscape Ecology at Harvard University, where he teaches ecological courses in the Graduate School of Design and in Harvard College. His research and writing include landscape ecology, road ecology, urban ecology, land-use planning and conservation, the netway system, and linking science with spatial pattern to mesh nature and people on the land. His previous title, Urban Regions: Ecology and Planning Beyond the City, was published by Cambridge University Press in 2008.

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